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“Leadership consists of picking good men and helping them do their best.” Chester W. Nimitz

Chester Nimitz about the Marines on Iwo Jima: "Uncommon valor was a common virtue." Outstanding man.

Fun fact: After his retirement from the Navy, Nimitz confessed to a journalist that he always got seasick on board ships.

Not just the Aircraft carrier was named to honor him in the U.S. Navy, but the size class of aircraft carriers that are in service are all Nimitz class Carriers.

"God grant me the courage not to give up what I think is right even though I think it is hopeless." --Chester W. Nimitz

I've studied Nimitz lot over the years. Actually went to his hometown of Fredericksburg Texas many times and have gone through the museum there a number of times. It is an amazing museum. Can spend an entire day there. I've studied the man and i can't seem to find a fault in him. Nimitz is one of those guys that never forgot who he was and where he came from. One of the more interesting antidotes from Nimitz life was he would go for walks on the beach in Hawaii in his civilian PT clothes. One day he encountered just a common 17 or 18 year old sailor and they walked/ran together. The sailor thought he was just an old civilian dude. He asked the sailor what ship he served on and if he liked his chiefs and officers. His ship wasn't some interesting ship of war. Just come common and uninteresting support vessel. The young sailor went on a diatribe complaining about everything and how much he hates life onboard the ship and badly their treated by the chiefs and officers. Nimitz asked if be had tried to talk to anyone to voice his complaints, and the young sailor told him that it was pointless because nobody cares what we think or how we're treated. It was at that point Nimitz introduced himself as THE CINCPAC and said, "and I certainly care about how my sailors are treated." Nimitz actually personally visited that sailor's ship and had a word with the ship's CO. He really cared.

Massive missed opportunity to have this sponsored by World of Warships

A random note about Admiral Nimitz, during the occupation of Japan, he found the time and had the love of naval history in him, to help ensure the preservation of the Japanese battleship Mikasa, at the time already encased in permanent dry dock, she easily could have been scrapped or destroyed. The Mikasa was the flagship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Battle of Tsushima, when the fledgling world power clashed with and utterly defeated the Imperial Russian Navy. She's also the last of the British built pre dreadnought battleships... and indeed the only British battleship left in the world. Admiral Nimitz is honored aboard the Mikasa, still around nearly two centuries after her birth in England's shipyards, in Yokosuka, beating heart of the American 7th fleet and Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force, where she continues to serve as a museum ship. A small part of a great man and a legendary warrior's legacy, but an important one none the less.

My grandfather was on the USS Arizona when it was sunk, he survived and served throughout the rest of the war under Nimitz

Chester Nimitz lost a finger. If he'd lost two more fingers, he would have been 'invalided out' of the USN. Chester Nimitz went on to become Admiral Nimitz. Isoroku Yamamoto lost two fingers at the Battle of Tsushima. If he'd lost one more finger, he would have been 'invalided out' of the IJN. Isoroku Yamamoto went on to be come Adrmiral Yamamoto.

If anyone is ever in Fredericksburg I highly recommend visiting the Chester Nimitz Museum. Its a WW2 history Museum focused on the pacific war and its incredible!

Aussie here, Chester Nimitz saved our butts bigtime.

The USS ENTERPRISE pictured at about the 5 minute mark was the much newer nuclear aircraft carrier of the name, not the WWII era ship.

Nimitz was a genius on so many levels. He recognized his limitations regarding tactics and so surrounded himself with the likes of Bill Halsey, Marc Mitscher, Ray Spruance, and Richmond K. Turner. The first three were brilliant fleet tacticians and Turner, who nearly lost his professional head after Pearl Harbor, was resurrected by his friend to become the architect of all Pacific amphibious operations...and there were many others on his staff. Nimitz excelled at complex strategic manuvers and for a generally conservative minded fellow he had no fear of taking a calculated gamble. He also was blessed with being lucky and luck can often win a battle when one has the courage of his convictionsm which Nimitz possessed in spades. He was always one or two steps ahead of the Japanese. Perhaps the most brilliant naval mind in history, it's damned hard to citicize Nimitz on any level. He deserves every accolade the country can give and more. A lovely video!

My cat's name is Nimitz. We watched this together. He was on my lap for most of it. He knows who he's named after!

Chester Nimitz is a personal hero of mine.

For reference, the 75,000 US casualties at Okinawa were about 1/6 of all US casualties during the war.

This video on Admiral Nimitz was one of the best video autobiographies I have ever seen. You could have gone into long and boring detail, or just glossed over his highlights of the war. It was engaging and and warm, with just the right amount of his leadership thrown in on top. Great video.

As a 20 year Naval Flight Officer I want to thank you for this video. Great job depicting the life of a great man.

Love this bio! My uncle was under his command, I grew up in Texas right next door to Fredericksburg, went to Nimitz Elementary. He's beloved in our community still. P.S. it's FRED-ericksburg, not FREED-ericksburg

Whistler should consider doing a video on Edwin Layton, the intelligence officer that helped Nimitz win the battle of Midway by cracking Japanese secret code and intercepting radio signals, and consequently take control of the Pacific

I was looking for more biographics on the PERSON "Chester Nimitz". What we recieved was a quick history of the Navy battle of the Pacific.

I love that one of the Japanese aircraft carriers in the Pacific was called the Hiryu. In Glasgow, that's an aggressive way to get someone's attention - "Here you!"

A bit of information: they are a total of 9 schools in honor of his name throughout the U.S. (One of them i graduated from)

The first photo of the Enterprise shown was that of CVN-65. Not the WW2 carrier CV-6. Some mispronunciations of names and places. But given the scope of the Pacific war and focus on Nimitz, it was educational.

Literally watched the one about General MacArthur last night and told myself that it would be cool to see one about Admiral Nimitz and BAM there it is!

Woody Harrelson who acted as Chester Nimitz in the 2019 movie Midway actually has a close semblance to the real life Grand Admiral. It's a great WW2 movie

Thanks for this video! My hometown in Washington (state) was the home port for the USS Nimitz from 1987 to 2001, and I had friends who served on her and in her carrier group. It was fantastic to learn more about the man for whom the ship was named.

Loses finger “tis but a scratch”

there's a large hill on Guam named after him

My father in law was on a destroyer (DD757) under Nimitz's command during this time. These were great men.

My oldest brother was in the Navy, and took part in the first aircraft carrier, USS Nimitz. I’ll forever be proud of him.

I don’t mean to be “that guy”, but the USS Enterprise you showed was the newer Nuclear Powered Carrier from the 60’s. The Enterprise that served in WWII was a Yorktown-class with the number CV-6, compared to the one you showed’s CVN-65. Also the USS Yorktown you showed was the later Essex-class, named in honor of the Yorktown than sank at Midway.

you forgot to tell one important fact, well one important and one fun fact. Important fact is that during Nuremberg trial with grand admiral Donitz, Nimitz supported Donitz, resulting in "just" ten years of prison for Donitz. By the way Nimitz spoke german fluently. Fun fact is, that Nimitz helped to raise funds to restore japanese battleship Mikasa.

Any British person: pronounces "Maryland." Me, an intellectual: "Where the hell did that 'Y' come from?!?"

I recommend reading "The Admirals" by Walter Borneman if you want to know more about Nimitz along with the other 5 star admirals. Very very good read.

Did anyone else laugh out loud when he showed the Lexington, Saratoga and Enterprise... the wrong enterprise! Might as well shown the Star Trek Enterprise! 🤦‍♂️😂

this bio devolved into a lot of re-tread of the specifics of the pacific war whereas I really was interested in the personality and life of the subject, who is very interesting

Been waiting ages for this one: Gustav Mannerhiem! The Swedish-Finnish general who spat in the face of the soviets during the Winter War.

I served aboard CVN-68 Nimitz twice. My home for over a year of total time. This vid made my eyes tear up. Brought back some bootcamp and service memories.

If it hadn't been for his class ring saving the rest of his hand and therefore his career, who knows who would've been put in his place and the choices such commander would've made. We might be living in a totally different world because of that.

If interested in Nimitz, Halsey, Leahy, and King, I suggest the book "The Admirals," by Walter Borneman.

Well done. One of the best bios of Nimitz I've seen or read. If you're ever in Fredericksburg, TX, it's worth visiting the Pacific War Museum. Had the privilege of touring it with my father-in-law, who was a Marine in the Pacific during WWII. We developed a respectful entourage as we moved through the museum as people listened to his stories. It was the first time my wife had ever heard him speak at any length about his experiences. He was part of a heavy weapons squad (Bazooka, flame thrower, squad machine gun), so of course he saw some of the heaviest fighting. He was ok until we got to the display of the Browning (I think that's what it was) and he broke down. His best friend was killed by a sniper in front of him. During the war, the military let friends join together to encourage recruitment and unfortunately he lost several. He was wounded twice and set back to Hawaii for recovery before rejoining his unit.

Thank you for this. I've been looking forward to a Nimitz bio ever since I found your channels. I'm a sucker for naval commanders, looking forward to more in the future.

Thank you for covering an important U.S. Navy Sailor.

Please do one on John Paul Jones father of the US Navy

Nimitz made bricks without straw, and Battled without Battleships. Legendary.

Great to watch/learn some history during these tough days. Thank you for this!!!

How can u NOT include one of the most fascinating milestones in Nimitz’s distinguished career? He was court-martialed in 1908 for neglect of duty. A destroyer under his command ran aground. A great life lesson.

Fun fact, the USS Missouri was chosen because Truman was from Missouri

Being a Navy veteran and a Texan this one hit home. Thank you.

Your programs are incredible. Thank you

The guy's name was Husband? "I would like you to meet my husband, Husband."

Actually, the Pacific Ocean battlefield was more like "millions of square miles of ocean"! (The entire ocean is some 63-plus million square miles.)

The aircraft carrier in the picture at 509 is the uss enterprise that was built in the 70s. I think. I worked for Chester Nimitz's nephew Lcdr Steve Nimitz, when I was in the reactor dept. on the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which is a Nimitz class vessel. Steve nimitz was the Reactor Officer, a department head. We were impressed with how sharp the guy was. Not very friendly, but decent, and formal.There is a girl standing next to admiral Nimitz in the video at 19:43, who could have been his granddaughter. She looks like the Lcdr Steve Nimitz that I worked for, maybe his mother?

Was waiting for this one, thank you!

When you have a class of the most expensive and powerful warships named after you.

Nimitz wished he had that Enterprise you showed at 5 min

That's a brilliant Biographics video, Simon. Well presented!

He got what he wanted after all, sailed his warships into the Tokyo Bay and defeated one of the most powerful navy in the world, also he raised the morale of USN and USMC post Pearl Harbor calamity, built the most potent USN striking force, the Fast Carrier Task Force and lastly created his secret weapon, the supply caravan of the USN that resupplies, supported USN fleet while being far away from home port.

What is it with great naval commanders of ww2 and having lost fingers? Iirc, Yamamoto lost his index and middle fingers on one of his hands during the Battle of Tsushima

A short history on the attack of Pearl Harbor: "We destroyed a couple of their boats. They dropped the SUN on us TWICE!"

In Fredricksburg, Texas near our ranch, is the Admiral Nimitz Museum, set right on the wide main street (built wide enough in the 1800s to turn a full mule team). Fredricksburg is a German town and I've been to the old Lutheran church when the sermon was still in German. Now it's a huge tourist town, with beer gardens ("authentic"!) Vineyards, wine tasting rooms and antique shops. Only 20 years ago it was still very quiet and had only a volunteer fire dept.

Absolutely loved this! Thank you.

Hmmmm... Wrong Enterprise. Or maybe they found that wormhole as in 'the final countdown' 😁 Also.... Battleship Yamamoto?!

I suggest that one of the next episodes should be about Admiral Yi.

Crystal clear bio and historic framework. Thanks Simon, you never disapoint.

I really enjoyed this Video. Thanks for the research & time you and your Staff provide to make these as accurate as possible.

CV USS Enterprise kinda deservs it's own biographics ^^. In fact there are alot of ships that could get that treatment.

The 880 between Oakland and San Jose is also named the Nimitz Freeway.

Interesting biography! What I didn't know what that Nimitz earned his spurs as a personel officer! But that explains a lot! 1) The relative equamity with which he took the Pearl Harbour assault. a) The battleships had only half the speed of the carriers - making long range deployments tricky and contributing to the downfall of the plan to defend the Philippines. Simply put the battleships had to be stationed half way against the enemy, thus splitting up the force to recombine at the tricky moment of contact with the enemy. b) The fleet at Pearl Harbor was in the process of being replaced and carriers carriers took about half the time to complete compared with battleships. The aircraft, the guns of the battleships were in the process of being replaced with newer and better types. This Nimitz KNEW. c) Nimitz remarked that the sinking in Pearl Harbor was not the disaster that it could have been. The alternative would have been to have them mauled at sea where the loaa in personel would have been greater and the loss of ships would have been irretrieveable. 2) At Midway the interest has been on the repair of the Yorktown - and rightly so; but it is overlooked, that the Saratoga was under repair from damage suffered by a japanese submarine attack. It must have been Nimitz that ordered that the Saratoga air group flew off the Yorktown. That was a neat reshuffling trick that the japanese never mastered (Battle of the Coral Sea springs to mind). that meant: If the airgroup of one carrier was devastated, but otherwise undamaged - a likely event for an attacking force - and a carrier was sunk - with a relatively intact airgroup (pilot wise) - a likely event for a defending force: Then the fleet would suffer the loss of TWO carriers operationally. If you are able to swap air group then you only lose ONE carrier operationally. 3) Pearl Harbor showed that the effectiveness of anti-aircraft fire was nothing to be despiesed: About 30% of the attacking force was either destroyed or damaged - the vast majority to AAA. There are two things to commend: a) Oerlikons and Bofors guns were relatively cheap - and ramping up the enemy loss with about 10% would make things that much harder on the enemy. b) There was an untapped personel ressource in the black crew members serving as cooks, grease monkeys etc. 4) There is the question of the conversion of cruiser hulls on the slipway to light aircraft carriers (like the St. Lo ) of the Independence class - a crucial decision made in 1938 by president Rosewelt - but who gave him that idea? My guess is that it was Nimitz. 5) The repair of the damaged battleships of Pearl Harbor was done with the lightest damaged first. That gave the USNavy a vehicle to use up the generous store of 14" shells (as the new battleships had 16" caliber) - to be used in shore bombardment. How effective this bombardment was? Doubtfull; but it gave the marines immediate and heavy fire support. It typically made the enemy give up on meeting the marines on the shore and in stead; Retire to prepared positions and fight from there. I think Admiral Nimitz deserves a biography that investigates the moves and influence he had (partly before the war). These are not decisions that impress the battle-hungry under training; but in effect infinately more decisive considering the long term effect - than individual valor.

An interesting tidbit. Ensign Nimitz, just three years out of the academy, was assigned command of USS Decatur (DD-5) which was run aground on a sandbar off of the Philippines. Ensign Nimitz was court martialed, found guilty of hazarding a vessel, and reprimanded. Today there is no way an ensign (the lowest commissioned navy rank) would be in charge of a warship and if run aground on his or her watch would be career ending.

Can you do an episode about one of the most underrated admirals of all time. Michiel de Ruyter. I would place him 2nd after that crazy korean admiral

"Where is Taffy 34?" It would be easy for me to criticise Halsey from the comfort of my easy chair. I believe that other great admirals also would have gone after the bird in the hand.

Great attention to detail Simon... Excellent!

This is one of my favorite videos you have put out. As a former Navy member myself, I have a huge interest in studying World War II, most notably the Pacific War. I am also from Texas and am proud to call Admiral Nimitz a Texan.

,The problem is...I WANT THAT FOURTH CARRIER' (MIDWAY 1976)

He was definitely a badass and deserves all the respect

Great work, Simon!!!

Oh hellyeah. Great video today Simon! Thank you sir

Simon: Appologies for the incorrect ship pictures. Americans: STOP BLOWNG HOLES IN ME SHIP

Horatio nelson might be good as well As well as admiral yi. Sorry if they exist already and I missed them. Also Carl panzram Thanks for what you guys do, during these troubling times.

I've been subscribed for a while but was wondering why I wasn't getting notifications about your uploads here! Glad I hit that bell icon! These videos are my guilty pleasure.

Sir... that was brilliant... thank you for this video. I am ex Navy and love to hear about our history... and Admiral Nimitz was something special...

i have his autograph,.. well signature on an accommodation from WW2. my step great grandfather was a submariner during the war.

I really don't want to see China invade Taiwan. I hope we have smart war fighters that make the correct calls to always keep China saying, "today is not the day" and if not support Taiwan to repel the invaders.

Mr. Whistler, Your eloquent speech and not only the choosing but implementation of the words you use to describe this Great Admiral are truly a work of art. I am a Veteran of the United States Navy and proudly served on the USS NASSAU LHA 4. 99% of the Admiral's you mentioned were required knowledge in Boot camp in the 1980's in San Diego. Thank you Sooooooo much for not only this video but all the others as well.

In Kenya and I'm convinced that he's one of the best leaders the U.S. ever produced.

Battleship Yamamoto? Aircraft carrier enterprise from the cold war period? What the hell are you guys smoking?

Horatio Nelson video pls ❤️

Another great video Sir. Thank you.

Went through Fredericksburg on new years eve one time. The whole place was lit up with holiday lights. It was impressive. This carrier vet approves of this video.

9:41 Americans: “call an ambulance! But not for me!”

It’s nitpicking, but why is the picture of USS Enterprise the post world war 2 ship, when there are plenty of photos of the ww2 ship?

excellent summary of the War in the Pacific!!! perfect speaker!!!

For any of you who get a chance to visit Fredericksburg, which is about an hour north of San Antonio, make sure to visit the Museum of the Pacific War there. It is absolutely fantastic and Fredericksburg itself is a wonderful German-Texan town too.

Hardcore History just came out with an episode with this guy. Coincidence?

I've never encountered an error in a Biographics video before and this is my favorite channel so i do not say this lightly. Japan had on two separate occasions asked the Americans for a surrender. However the Americans wanted an unconditional surrender which the Japanese found totally unacceptable. It was not till the nuclear bombs had been dropped when they finally agreed to the unconditional surrender. On a side note: The latter surrender deal the Japanese laid out was that the emperor was not to be touched, nothing else was included. The Americans still said no, dropped the bombs and decided to not touch the emperor.

Incredibly insightful!